The road to hell is paved with good intentions
It’s not an easy job, being a Secret Service agent. How much is your own life worth. What can they pay you to make you take a bullet for somebody else. My admiration for men and women like that knows no end. And the strange thing is, it’s no big deal, they’re just doing their job.
And that’s exactly what the Secret Service did on January 6th. Their job. And in doing so, they potentially saved the life of the President of the United States. What am I babbling about? In his speech on the Ellipse, Trump told a cheering mob, And after this, we’re all going to march down to the Capitol, and I’m going to march right along with you!. Which potentially put the President in a meat grinder. The Secret Service refused to allow him to march. But what if the Secret Service had done their jobs just a bit differently?
See, here’s the McGuffin. The Secret Service should not have been surprised by Trump’s statement. The Washington Post is now reporting that Trump literally spent the previous two weeks almost single mindedly pressing his staff and aides to work out the details with the Secret Service to work out the logistics to allow him to either march or motorcade from the Ellipse to the Capitol with the protesters to keep his promise. Two weeks for the Secret Service, whose whole job boils down to getting the President from one place to another safely shouldn’t have been impossible.
Here’s why this is so important. One of the highest priorities of the J6 committee has been to fill in as completely as possible what Trump was doing in the White House during those critical 3 hours when the Rioters were storming the Capitol. They have testimony that Trump was thrilled with the riot, showing him how far his supporters would go for them. But those are just words.
What if the Secret Service had actually set it up? What if they put up a fence on one side of the street, surrounded Trump with a phalanx of agents and allowed him to safely waddle his fat ass down to the Capitol? Or had a motorcade behind that fence to allow him to safely ride down to the Capitol? Either way, Trump would have physically been at the Capitol, and so would the cameras.
They say that A picture is worth a thousand words. If that’s the case, then a :30 second video clip of Trump’s face and response to the carnage would be worth the entire compiled works of Shakespeare. No words necessary. Just the smug look of satisfaction on that fat face, his excited pointing at different battles going on, maybe een clapping his hands together. His ego would have allowed no other response.
From such small decisions come massive consequences. Imagine the Senate GOP trying to cast doubt on Trump’s actual knowledge of, and response to the carnage when there’s video of exactly how he responded. Anybody want to guess if the second Senate impeachment vote might have been closer if the entire nation could see just what flagrant behavior the GOP was covering up? Anybody think that poling might have been sky high that Trump tried to overthrow the election? With a piece of tape like that, anybody think Trump himself might already be under indictment for Seditious Conspiracy?
There is no doubt that the Secret Service made the right call. But on the other hand, Presidents have a funny habit of getting their way when they want to go places and see things, especially with two weeks of lead planning time involved. There would still have been a J6 committee, but with that video, it may have been the heftier non partisan commission instead. And maybe The Big Lie and Trumpism wouldn’t be as prevalent as they are today. Just something to think about.
And speaking of the Secret Service, there is more evidence and testimony from them that should be coming forward too – i.e., Trump’s plan to get to the Capitol Building.
I’ve heard that the committee has photos (and possibly video) of Trump’s reaction to the riot, taken by the White House photographer. As if there’s any doubt that he was gleeful. FWIW, many of the insurrectionists say they felt betrayed that their Dear Leader was safely parked in the Oval Office while they carried out his “orders.”
“Imagine the Senate GOP trying to cast doubt on Trump’s actual knowledge of, and response to the carnage when there’s video of exactly how he responded. Anybody want to guess if the second Senate impeachment vote might have been closer if the entire nation could see just what flagrant behavior the GOP was covering up? Anybody think that poling might have been sky high that Trump tried to overthrow the election? With a piece of tape like that, anybody think Trump himself might already be under indictment for Seditious Conspiracy?”
Would.
Not.
Have.
Made.
A.
Difference.
At.
All.
The GOPers in Congress KNEW what Trump was doing and what he had planned to do–maybe not the details but certainly the broad strokes. The man had been talking with his Congressional allies for the better part of two months trying to overturn the election. All those GOPers saw the exact same things the rest of us did in the days leading up to January 6th (and I’m willing to bet more than a few of the critters were directly involved with those somewhat suspicious tours of Congress–and those who weren’t directly involved certainly were aware of the ones who were and what their little “tours” were all about).
We saw FOUR YEARS of Trump saying one thing ON CAMERA then turning right around hours later and DENYING that video proof. Considering there was a big attempt to blame the insurrection on “Antifa” and “Black Lives Matters” agitators peppered in the crowd, you CANNOT seriously suggest that the GOPers in Congress would’ve done anything differently than we saw actually take place. Hell, we saw prominent GOP leaders condemn Trump only to walk back their condemnation days later when they saw their Trump-admiring constituents spewing outrage at, rather than heaping praise on, the GOP members of Congress for their audacity in “turning on” Trump.